Former Celtic and Hibs boss reckons it was ‘good’ for Scotland star to turn down Hoops move

Former Celtic manager Tony Mowbray has praised John McGinn for snubbing Celtic and joining Aston Villa – claiming that the Scotland midfielder will be ‘tested’ – in the English Championship.

Mowbray, who is now in charge of Blackburn Rovers, admitted the 23-year-old was also on his radar before McGinn made the £4 million switch to the Birmingham club from Hibs last month,

Celtic also had a bid accepted by the Easter Road outfit for the playmaker and Mowbray, whose team came up against McGinn in Saturday’s goal-less draw against Villa, believes a move south of the border will be more beneficial for McGinn.

McGinn in action for Hibs

Mowbray, speaking to the LancashireTelegraph said: “John was on the radar, it’s good for him to come to England and test himself.

“It’s been a pretty common route to leave Edinburgh and go to Glasgow and the Old Firm but it was good for John McGinn to come to England and test himself in a league where he will get tested.

“John McGinn is a good footballer and had been on our radar a long, long time.

“I know the people at Hibernian very, very well and there was a sense he was leaving. Celtic had been mooted a lot.

“John fell into a category of where we were going to spend some of the money, how much on this position, and at the early part I didn’t really see central midfield as somewhere where we needed to spend a lot of money.

“I felt as though we were reasonably strong in that area of the pitch and wanted to spend it in other areas.”